AUTHORS POV
Katherine's last words were said with more than a little bitterness and hurt, and she wasted no time in bolting out of the room without a backward glance not noticing or caring that she had left her backpack behind near her chair.She ignored the stares of the administrator and students as she made her way quickly out of the office area and into the halls. She ditched her first class to head for the library. She needed a little time to think and sort through her unusually high running emotions. She didn't question how she knew where the library was as it was directly concerning the situation she had just gotten herself out of.*****
Tyler King stared after that strange Katherine Scott girl, whose sudden outburst had both surprised and impressed him. It wasn't often that anyone, even him stood up to Giselle, let alone actually yelled at her.And yet it wasn't just that alone that had caught his eye.At first glance, the girKATHERINE'S POVI was still sitting in the library thinking about my life since I moved to this town. The nightmares with that pitiful, frightening man who was so familiar, the way my mother and father looked at me - almost as if they were afraid of me - how they treated me differently from my brother and my sister. It all seemed to add up to something going on. Maybe my parents were hiding something, maybe…No! I thought. It's my imagination, that's all. No dark shadows are lurking in corners for me, no boogeyman under my bed. There are no conspiracies, no secrets and lies, no hidden truth waiting to be revealed. The Scott's are my family and no amount of wishing things were different will change anything. I am nothing but 'plane Kathrine Scott' and I always will be.With that settled in my mind, I sunk lower in my seat, determined to flush out the rest of my feelings and understand them before I made one step towards a classroom door
AUTHOR's POVHe smiled when he saw her, one eyebrow lifting as he eyed her in his predatory way. He began walking towards her- though 'strutting' would be a more appropriate word for it. Every movement seemed more graceful than that of a Lion, more vain than that of a peacock."Hello," he said, leaning up against her table, drawing out the word.He seemed so sure of his charm, of his ability to make her weak in her knees. It sickened her to her very core."Can I help you with something?" Katherine asked, leaning back in her chair and staring at him and unblinkingly in the eye.The lack of a starry-eyed expression seemed to surprise him for a moment, though he soon recovered from it. He began to seem rather intrigued by her now.He lifted her backpack to her eye level as a symbol that he came all the way here, just to return her backpack and not for other motive, and she felt embarrassed that she had not noticed him carrying it before. S
Katherine grabbed her books and ran out of the algebra 2 classroom door, only barely waiting until the bell rang to make her escape. She couldn't take another minute of it. It was worse than it was at her other school. They hadn't been so hatefully cruel, so utterly malicious back in Chicago.Yes, they had teased her, but there was no real ill will with it. She hadn't ever thought she would miss that teasing, those words she had seen as so harsh then. But now she did. She would trade places with any one of the kids she went to school within Chicago and would be grateful for it.She headed for the bathroom, feeling sick. She pushed past some of the girls who had been cruel to her- Deirdre Kirkpatrick, Alyssa Addison and Christy MacDonald, she remembered briefly.She ignored their laughs at her agitated state, yanking
AUTHOR'S POVKatherine walked through the doors of the lunchroom, ignoring the strange looks the other students had been giving her, much as she had been doing all day. She wasn't even halfway through the day yet and she was already so tired, she was tired of her parents, of this town, this school and she was most specifically tired of Tyler staring holes through her, which he'd had done during every class they had together, which was all of them like he had been creepily stalking her or something. She just wanted to hit someone really hard, preferably in their face.Ever since she had been bullied in her first year of high school, she had gotten a bit of a violent streak. Nothing too bad. Just bad enough that when she got angry she had the urge to hit someone, hard in their head and sometimes she never held back and she actually hit someone but only those who
AUTHOR'S POV The sharp, ear-piercing noise of a chair being jerked out from under someone got the attention of everyone in the room including Katherine. Tyler looked at her strangely for a moment, but she was too enthralled in the situation unravelling before her eyes.Brock Johnson, the quarterback of the football team, was up to his old tricks again. If you asked Tyler, that boy needed a good lesson taught to him the hard way, but of course, Tyler couldn't care less. The boy now being tormented wasn't him or one of his own. Why should he care?Tyler watched Katherine's look of horror as Brock lifted the boy by the back of his neatly iron t-shirt to his feet and shoved him over to another guy in a football uniform. More of Brock's cronies snickered in the background as the boy begged and pleaded to be left alone, but the stronger boys ignored him and shoved him from one uniformed behemoth to another.Katherinelooked around the roo
AUTHOR'S POVAnticipation laced the room as Brock stared up at Katherine in shock, blood still streaming down his nose. The geek who had been the center of negative attention now stood forgotten next to the jocks that had tormented him only moments ago, all equal in their shock.Tyler stood a little way behind Katherine, keeping his distance like the coward he was, waiting to see what Brock would do in retaliation, but even Brock was surprised with Katherine’s strength.But it wasn't Brock who spoke first."That was a warning. The next time, I won't pull my punch. And I won't stop at one hit."Not waiting for a reply, Katherine turned on her heel and walked over to the geek.
Katherine took a deep breath and braced herself against whatever punishment was to come before turning the handle. The warmth of the office once again struck Katherine as out of place in a school like this one. Katherine saw Principal Kingsley sitting at her desk, the lovely woman's unnaturally crimson hair standing out vividly against the cream-colored walls.The older woman looked up, surprising her with a brilliant smile."Katherine! I thought you would never come. Please, do come in."Katherinetook a seat in it, all the while eyeing her principal curiously."Yeah, sorry about that. I was... delayed," Katherine said, thinking of her uncomfortable parting with Tyler.Principal Kingsley leaned on the desk, crossing her arms in a way that disturbingly reminded Katherine of Tyler, minus the arrogant smirk."So, Katherine, how has your first day been thus far?"Katherine raised her eyebrows in disbelief. This is why I was pulled from class and
AUTHOR'S POVThe walk home was taken with leisure and ease. No race to get back to get dinner ready and on the stove. No yelling parents to hurry home to - if you could call that place Kathy's home.Fortunately for Kathy, both her parents were at a business lunch/golf thing with the vice president of Mr. Scott's advertisement agency. They wouldn't be back until dinner time and Kathy would have the entire house all to herself until they got back. She could get loads of writing done with the five or six hours she had before her parents got back to the house. Kathy could have complete peace while cooking dinner, unlike she usually did when her parents Would shout from whatever room they were in that she was taking forever, along with multiple insults that would very likely shock having lunch with her charming parents that afternoon.Kathy was by no means the type for a Cinderella-complex-she hated self-pity - but sometimes Kathy had to hope that her beat
The hothouse air was warm and comfortable to Katherine as she lay atop Tyler who was stretched out on the large stone bench that Tyler had placed there after he had first encountered her there. Her cheek rested against his chest as his left arm encircled her waist possessively. His other hand was occupied with stroking her hair, which he insisted remained loose as it was so much easier to run his fingers through it that way.They had been that way for hours but it seemed only moments to Katherine.“Katherine?" Tyler said tentatively."Hmm?" Katherine asked lazily.When he took too long in answering. Katherine opened her eyes and lifted her head to look at him resting her chin on her interwoven fingers.“What's wrong?" she asked softly. "Am I too heavy?"Concerned that she was crushing him, she began to move off of him."No!" Tyler said, crushing her back to his chest as though the thought of her leaving him was unbearable.
Katherine stood there for what seemed a lifetime, staring at the place where Convel had just stood.She forced herself to choke back sob after sob, holding her hand to her mouth, never letting a Sound of it escape her lips lest Convel hear it and come back. Katherine didn't know if she had the strength to tell him no again with the way she was feeling.But she had burned that bridge and it had to stay burned if she was ever going to have a normal life, or at least some semblance of one.Once Katherine had overcome her feelings and felt more in control, she forced herself to wipe the tears from her eyes and walk back toward shore. The fog wasn't quite as bad as it had been and seemed to be dissipating again,coming and going as though it couldn't make up its mind, allowing Katherine a clear view of where she had left her boat.The merman opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted when they both heard the distinct Sound of a motorboat speeding through the
Katherine had no idea how she was going to take on thirteen well-trained lycanthropes, powers or no powers, but she knew she didn't have much of a choice.Katherine took several deep breaths, preparing for the next attack. The lycanthropes began transforming right and left, and the next attack came from behind, knocking Katherine to the ground.Oh God, no. No, it can't end like this, Katherine thought as she struggled to get the wolf off of her but more joined it, holding her down and soon Katherine had seven or eight lycanthropes' paws on her back, pushing her down.She felt like she couldn't breathe, and her breaths were forced and panicked, tears of fear forming in her eyes."Get off... of... MEP" Katherine said, screaming the last word in desperate hysteria.Suddenly Katherine felt the back of her shirt rip, forced open from the inside, and then the wolves that had been holding her down were flying off of her in all directions.Katherine
"I had hoped that we could share my vision and lead our race into a brighter future... together," he said darkly."A brighter future?" Katherine said in disbelief, anger overriding the warning her instincts were telling her.Get out of there, Katherine, the warning seemed to say. Get out of there now.."What brighter future? The one where you enslave all of mankind? You mean that future? Have you never even heard of The Ten Commandments? The movie where God sends Moses to free al the slaves because slavery is - you know-bad?""Katherinet, ye are young -far too young to understand all that is about to take place. I hope that one day we will stand side by side as father and daughter, fightin' for the future of our kind. But know that what I do now, I do for yer sake as much as for the sake of all our kind" Convel said, his voice heavy with regret."And what exactly is it that you're going to do ?" Katherine asked, folding her arms and glaring at Conv
The oars parted the water, forming small waves as Katherine rowed the small boat toward the island. Katherine had borrowed the rowboat from a closed boat rental business on the docks of Merytonburg. Not knowing how to drive a motorboat, Katherine had figured that the small wooden craft would have to suffice. She had thought that the work of the constant rowing would be tiring but surprisingly she found it easy, and she soon found herself within view of the lighthouse's brightly shining beacon.Somehow, Katherine knew that Convel had ordered it just for her, to make him easier to find.The closer each row brought Katherine to the island, the more she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Convel had already proven himself dangerous to her, even if only indirectly. Some part of her tried to hold onto the belief that it hadn't been on his order that those lycanthropes had invaded her home, yet the fact that he merely laughed at her when she asked him about it didn't b
Tyler quickly strode to the door leading to the hallway, nearly tearing it open in his rush to get out. Once in the hallway he Flitted to Katherine's door, and without even bothering to knock he opened it.Her bed was empty and still made even if a bit messy as though she had slept on top of the covers rather than under them.A laptop Tyler had seen her using before laid open on the messy coverlet. Tyler quickly exited the room, storming down the halls as he shouted at the top of his lungs."GISELLE!!!The coven started Flitting out into the hallway, most yawning tiredly with murmured questions of what was going on.Finally, after what seemed ages Giselle appeared in her white silk robe, hair sticking out wildly and a bemused expression playing across her half-awake features."Tyler, what in the world-""She's gone, Giselle. Katherine is gone," Tyler blurted out in an unusually panicked manner. "she took my keys, Giselle."Tyle
As quietly and quickly as possible, Katherine opened her door, peeking out into the hallway to make sure no one was up yet, and crept over to Tyler's door. She put her ear to it and could hear the distinct sound of snoring inside. Katherine's lips curled into an amused smile.I am definitely using that as blackmail material later..Slowly, careful to be as noiseless as possible, Katherine turned the handle to Tyler's door and tiptoed inside, closing the door behind her. Tyler was laying on his back, one arm across his chest, the other stretched above his head.He looked so beautiful with strands of black hair falling into his eyes.As though drawn by a magnet. Katherine stepped toward him. Another step... another... a fourth. And then she was beside him, staring at his peaceful face, her breaths coming short and ragged.He could wake up any second. You're crazy. Just grab the keys and go already. You've lost your mind. Katherine leaned down. This i
Fog surrounded Katherine as her feet sunk into the usual grittiness of the sand with each step she took.Katherine walked toward the bright flashing light that she now knew was a lighthouse."Father?" she called."Ye have been trying to contact me, lass? What did you need, me bonnie Bellet? Are ye in some kind of trouble?"Convel stepped out of the fog., his pace quickened by his obvious concern for her."I'm fine,"Katherine said stiffly.Her tone stopped him in his tracks a few feet away from her."What's wrong then? Have I done something to upset ye?"Katherine took a deep calming breath, inhaling the sea air, wet from the waves crashing upon the shore."You tell me. Why did you send two lycanthropes to my parents' house last night?"To Katherine's surprise, Convel's lips stretched out into a charming smile. He looked quite handsome at that moment and Katherine could see exactly why Giselle had fallen for him.
Katherine had been down to the Basement several times after Giselle had told her about the Clans, mostly so that Study could eagerly show off all of his very advanced computer equipment. Katherine could easily say that Study was the younger brother she never had and that she adored him as much as she would have if he had been her younger brother. He was always very open and honest in his own shy way so that Katherine had always felt that she could ask him anything.Which was why Katherine was walking down the halls as noiselessly as she could, making her way to the Basement. She had felt rather odd about asking the others about their powers and what vampire, werewolf and merpeople myths were actual reality. It would seem rude to ask